1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to an information recording medium, and more particularly, to an information recording medium, a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, and a recording and/or reproducing method to effectively manage the last data recording address of a data area.
2. Description of the Related Art
Unlike rewritable information recording media, a last recorded address (LRA) of data in a conventional write-once information recording medium changes continuously as data is additionally recorded in the medium because the medium only allows data to be recorded once. Since the LRA is the last recorded address of data, the LRA allows detection of an outer circumference of a disc-type information recording medium where data is recorded. Thus, it is possible to estimate a physical operating range of a pick-up operation during data reproduction. Since file system-related information is recorded in a beginning part or an ending part of a write-once information recording medium, the LRA is important for data recording and/or reproducing.
FIG. 1 is a reference diagram to explain data recording in a write-once information recording medium 100 and a consequent recorded form of LRAs, according to the conventional art. The write-once information recording medium 100 comprises a lead-in area 110, a data area 120, and a lead-out area 130.
Data is recorded in the data area 120 according to first, second, and third recording operations. A drive system records every last recorded address (LRA) of data in the write-once information recording medium 100. The recording operation may be an operation performed, for example, from the time when the medium 100 is loaded on the drive system to record data until the time the medium is ejected. Information regarding an LRA1 140, which is a last recorded location of data recorded in the data area 120 during the first recording operation, is initially recorded in a predetermined region 170 in the lead-in area 110. Information regarding an LRA2 150, which is a last recorded location of data recorded in the data area 120 during the second recording operation, is then recorded in the predetermined region 170 after the information regarding the LRA 140. Information regarding an LRA3 160, which is a last recorded location of data recorded in the data area 120 during the third recording operation, is recorded in the predetermined region 170 after the information regarding the LRA 150.
Since the write-once information recording medium data cannot be overwritten, when every last recorded location of data is recorded in the information recording medium during each recording operation or after a predetermined recording operation, space of the information recording medium for recording the LRAs become drastically exhausted, which causes waste in capacity of the medium. In addition, in order to record the LRA, a drive system needs to take time to identify the exact last recorded location of data each time after a recording operation or a predetermined operation is performed, thereby deteriorating efficiency of system performance.